TT News

Hutchinson makes it three in Superstock7 June 2010

Ian Hutchinson's dominance
of the 2010 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy
continued on Monday afternoon when he took a nail biting victory in the 4-lap
royal London 360 Superstock race, his third win in as many races, to join a
select band of racers who have won three in a week. With two races still to come
he could even threaten the visiting Philip McCallen's four in a week on the Isle
of Man.

The Padgetts Honda rider came in to the final lap 5.54s adrift of long time race
leader Ryan Farquhar but
a record breaking lap of 130.741mph saw him edge out the KMR Kawasaki rider by
the tiny margin of 1.32s. The Northern Irishman just missed out on a 130mph+ lap
but was comfortably clear of third placed Conor Cummins, who made it
two Kawasaki's in the top three.

With the Island basking in warm sunshine once more, conditions were absolutely
ideal around the Mountain Course and it was
Farquhar who set off quickest, the Dungannon rider holding on to a slender 0.24s
lead from Michael Dunlop
with Keith Amor in third
and Hutchinson, Cummins and Cameron Donald completing
the top six. It was incredibly close though with 1.5s covering the top 5 and
only 4.5s between the top ten!

Farquhar was flying on the opening lap, extending his advantage at all the
timing points, and a first lap speed of 129.648mph gave him a 6.78s lead over
Dunlop with Hutchinson now up to third ahead of Cummins and Amor, John McGuinness holding on
to sixth. Leading contenders Dan Stewart and Carl Rennie were both out of
luck though, the duo retiring at the end of the first lap.

Farquhar and Hutchinson were pulling away from the chasing pack on the second
lap and the Kawasaki rider was the first to break the old lap record with a
brilliant lap of 129.816mph and this saw him edge further away from Hutchinson,
the gap 8.8s as they came into refuel. Dunlop had been relegated to fourth
though and he lost further time as he changed his rear tyre at the pit stop,
dropping him all the way down to 11th.

Hutchinson had the quickest pit stop and led the race for the first time as the
riders left the pits but by Glen Helen, 34-year old
Farquhar was back in front to the tune of 1.4s and it was going to be a straight
fight over the final two laps. Cummins was only eight seconds further back in
third with McGuinness, Amor and Guy Martin now occupying the
top six positions. Dunlop was fighting his way back and was gradually inching
his way up the leaderboard.

By Ramsey Hairpin, Farquhar was over four seconds
clear and this became 5.54s as the pair went into their final lap - and it was
here when Hutchinson made his charge. The gap stayed the same at Glen Helen but Hutchinson had halved this by the time
they jumped Ballaugh Bridge, and at Ramsey Hairpin for
the final time it was only 1.82s. In all three races held so far, Hutchinson has
been the quickest rider over the Mountain but Farquhar was up for the fight and
rode harder than he'd ever done before only to fall short by the smallest margin.

Hutchinson's final lap of 130.741mph was the first 130mph lap recorded by a
Superstock machine and, despite Farquhar setting his best ever lap of the Mountain Course at 129.883mph, he fell short by
an agonising 1.32s. Nevertheless, it was his first podium finish at the TT since 2008 and there was further celebration for Kawasaki
with Cummins coming home in a strong third and going some way to make up for his
disappointment on Saturday, when he retired whilst leading the Superbike race.

Behind, McGuinness maintained his fourth place all the way to the chequered flag
whilst Martin got the better of Amor for fifth, albeit by just two tenths of a
second. Ian Lougher took
a fine seventh with a determined Michael Dunlop fighting his
way back up to 8th and Michael Rutter and Adrian Archibald completing
the top ten.

James McBride was the
best of the Privateers in 14th place, three places ahead of Portuguese star Luis Carreira with Stefano Bonetti the next
highest placed in 19th. McBride has now jumped up to the top of the table, the
Kettering rider having 49pts and holding onto a 13-point lead over Stephen Oates and Davy Morgan, the pair
sharing second on 36 points.